Squeezing Dry

Kirk, pipe in mouth, bulging with cash, wearing sunglasses and a trench coat, imitating the style of Mark Gor, swaggered triumphantly towards the red-light district. Skill upgrades and base attribute increases were all here, and he couldn't wait to see what the casino was like.

The sunglasses on his face were the Tyrannosaurus Glasses that Kirk had just seen could be upgraded. He was so bored that he spent 2,000 survival points and 2 skill potential points to upgrade the Tyrannosaurus Glasses. After a flash of light blue, Kirk found speechlessly that not only had the Tyrannosaurus Glasses been upgraded, but their name had even changed to Helen Keller Glasses!

[Helen Keller Glasses] level 2
[Description] You see the world, the world sees you.
[Rarity] Newbie starter equipment, upgraded to max.
[Equipment] Magic Glasses
[Effects] Can be used once every 24 hours, costing 25 energy. You can view the survival points, skill potential points, and base attribute points of contractors, or some or all of their base attributes. You can also pay to view the attributes of plot characters and monsters. It is essential for your travels through The Space, for robbing and killing, and for home travel.
[Tip] When using, you must pass an Insight check with both parties. If you fail, the other party will receive a relevant prompt and may counterattack. If it is a plot character, they may attack you. If you pay, you are guaranteed to view successfully.

Kirk entered the red-light district. According to the newbie guide, this was the area contractors had to come to for skill enhancement. It was concentrated with a large number of casinos. What made him speechless was that only in the red-light district, where casinos and brothels were clustered, was there a hall for contractors to enhance themselves!

The Space's intentions were too sinister.

Think about it. An otaku with only 10,000 points on him, seeing the extravagance of the casino and the seductive scenery of the brothel, could he still control his feet from stepping into the training hall?

Kirk knew himself well; he was not a person with a firm will at all. (In the newbie plot, Kirk's willpower during a check was a shocking 2 points!) Therefore, he completely ignored the various disturbances from the beautiful blonde women with long legs, wearing only bikinis, and rushed into the upgrade hall like a startled rabbit.

After gasping for breath with difficulty for a long time, Kirk pinched his thigh until it hurt, and his little brother reluctantly lay down. Only then did he walk with heavy steps to the skill exchange window.

Heaven knows how a 20-something otaku could resist such a temptation of rosy skeletons. He saw many beautiful girls inside the exchange window giggling.

Kirk was also embarrassed, but fortunately, he was sitting down now, so the pure and charming Eastern beauty opposite the counter, who was as pure as Liu Yifei and had eyes more alluring than Gao Yuanyuan, wouldn't keep laughing at him.

"What skill would you like to upgrade?" her voice was like a nightingale's song.

Kirk took a deep breath. Damn The Space, how could it let a poor otaku think calmly? He thought for a moment, then took out the skill exchange list from the newbie guide (please refer to the basic settings in the work-related section, [Contractor Skills] entry).

"Can I only upgrade here?"

"Yes." The other party showed no displeasure due to him being a newbie. It seemed that survival points were as powerful as real-world money.

"Then, please calculate how many survival points and skill potential points are needed to upgrade a basic skill from level 2 to level 5."

"It requires 5,500 survival points and 8 skill potential points." The beauty was a little surprised; it was rare for someone to exchange skills to level 5 at once, and she had never seen a newbie spend so lavishly.

But what made her even more ecstatic was yet to come. The otaku, who looked like a dull goose opposite her, painstakingly counted on his fingers for a long time.

"Hmm, I'll exchange [Basic Small Knife Mastery], [Basic Physical Defense Mastery], and [Basic Melee Combat] to level 5 first," Kirk said slowly.

The beauty's beautiful eyes widened in shock, her long eyelashes trembled, and her voice was no longer calm: "Contractor No. 4444, are you going to exchange these three basic skills to level 5 at once? That would require 16,500 survival points and 24 skill points!"

"Mm." Kirk didn't notice the girl's anomaly and was still distressed about his survival points.

The beautiful girl felt dizzy. She had seen plenty of newbies, who would hesitate and calculate for a long time just to upgrade a level 2 skill. Now, this guy was going to upgrade three basic skills to level 5 at once! You must know that in this Space, level 5 skills are the dividing line between contractors and rookies. Any basic skill reaching level 5 means one has moved from newbie to the ranks of contractors, becoming a key figure in Las Vegas. Moreover, this young man was exchanging three at once.

Before the beauty could recover from her shock, a mature beauty gracefully walked over. Her exquisite face, cold demeanor, and tight OL suit clung to her voluptuous figure and slender legs. Accompanied by the crisp sound of high heels tapping the ground, she approached. She walked to the counter and saw both women in a daze, frowning: "Yuqing, what are you spacing out for? Why aren't you processing the customer's business?"

Yuqing turned her head: "Sister Hanyu, this guest wants to upgrade three basic skills to level 5 simultaneously."

"What!" Even the senior account manager Hanyu opened her red lips in surprise. A newbie wanted to exchange so many upgrades?

Kirk finally felt the change in atmosphere. He was used to being an otaku; even the class beauty wouldn't look at him. These stunning beauties, who were twenty streets ahead of any female celebrity in the world, were focusing their eyes on him, something he had never even imagined.

"Are you really going to process this transaction?" Hanyu's voice was very sweet, with a moist, watery charm of a Jiangnan beauty.

Kirk saw the fair cleavage and deep career line beneath the beautiful account manager's chest. The otaku almost collapsed, lowering his head in shame: "Can I? Or not?"

Yuqing couldn't help but let out a "pfft" and giggle, but she was glared at by Hanyu and had to bury her face in the table, her chest heaving violently as she stifled her laughter.

"Okay, no problem. May I have your name?"

"Kirk." Kirk finally mustered the courage to look at the beautiful senior manager. This woman's beauty was truly a femme fatale. Even he could barely handle it. (Mysterious voice: Your willpower is only 2, and you're an otaku. It seems like anyone you can handle, can you handle Furong?)

"Okay. Please proceed to the VIP room."

Upon arriving at the VIP room, Kirk finally broke down.

The environment was too treacherous because it was full of beautiful women! Kirk had visited the headquarters of a certain cosmic central bank once and seen a sea of beauties, but he could guarantee that any beauty here now could easily crush any global female celebrity if they went out.

Kirk's heart rate surged to 200 beats per minute, and his thoughts became confused.

A conspiracy! This is definitely a conspiracy! A naked conspiracy!

"Finally reached the limit?" In Kirk's mind, he heard the tragic scenes of many dying in battle, warriors with blood streaming from their faces falling unwillingly under the high heels of rosy skeletons.

"Mr. Kirk, you are a VIP client, so you can come directly here in the future. Please have a seat." Hanyu led Kirk into the spacious and bright VIP room and gently poured him tea.

Kirk was still trying to resist the charm of this mature beauty. Otherwise, would he be completely devoured later?

Kirk looked around. The decoration wasn't overly grand or extravagant, but it was exquisite and perfect. The hostess here was a person with excellent taste.

"For a newbie to want to exchange so many skills at once, it's really no wonder our Yuqing was so surprised," Hanyu said softly. "Have you decided?"

"Yes." Kirk fought against the rising tide of distraction and decided to finish quickly. Hanyu had become a more terrifying existence than the Walker King in his eyes.

Hanyu looked at Kirk's evasive eyes with a half-smile, finding it amusing.

"As you wish!"

Then, a vast universe appeared before Kirk's eyes, and a gentle yet powerful force enveloped his entire body. He felt a warmth surge from within, circulating throughout his body. Countless brutal scenes of combat, hunting, sword fighting, and shield defense flashed before him. The skills that had seemed hazy before became clearer. It was as if The Space was directly transmitting thousands of years of human combat experience to him!

His eyes regained clarity. [Basic Small Knife Mastery], [Basic Physical Defense Mastery], and [Basic Melee Combat] all indicated that they had been upgraded to level 5!

[Basic Small Knife Mastery] level 5: Improves mastery of melee small knives such as daggers, long daggers, military daggers, and wrist blades, increasing attack damage by 25% and attack speed by 25%.

[Basic Physical Defense Mastery] level 5: Improves mastery of defensive equipment other than shields, granting a bonus to defensive capabilities and reducing physical damage taken by contractors by 25%.

[Basic Melee Combat] level 5: Enhances melee weapon mastery, passively increasing melee damage by 25% and critical hit rate by 25%.

"After a skill is upgraded to level 5, the first skill branch option will inevitably appear. This is the direction that determines your career path. In The Space, there are no fixed class divisions; you need to use skills as a foundation to form your future combat positioning," Han Yu said softly.

"You can choose your skill branch later or now. If you don't choose this branch, it will always exist and will not disappear," she explained with a smile.

Kirk naturally decided to think about it later. His mind was a mess right now, and random clicking would lead to disaster.

"Mm, one more thing," Kirk said, having thrown caution to the wind and appearing much more at ease. "I also want to redeem [Basic Footwork Mastery] from level 1 to level 5. How much will that cost?"

Han Yu widened her beautiful eyes again. This newbie rookie was becoming more and more unfathomable to her. From her expression, he was clearly a boy with little experience in the world, and it was already a miracle that he could stand out from the incredibly brutal newcomer trial. Now, he actually had so many resources in his hands.

After tapping on the keyboard for a moment with her slender, delicate fingers, she said, "Mm, it requires 7,000 survival points and 10 skill potential points."

"Choose to redeem."

Then, Kirk plunged back into the illusory world of The Space's enhancements. The leaps of an antelope, the crouch of a cheetah, the agility of a lynx, the gallop of a steed, all appeared before his eyes. When he regained his senses, he saw the notification.

[Basic Footwork Mastery] level 5: Increases walking/running speed by 25% and evasion ability by 25%.

Then, Kirk remembered Michonne's incredibly powerful deep blue knives and chose to upgrade [Basic Medium Blade Mastery] to level 5 as well. The beautiful Han Yu was so excited she was numb. As a senior supervisor, her monthly income was only 1,000 survival points, which was already a high income in Las Vegas. The commission from this cute Mr. Kirk redeeming skills here alone far exceeded her two months' income.

[Basic Medium Blade Mastery] level 5: Improves mastery of weapons such as knives, swords, rapiers, Japanese swords, greatswords, and axes, increasing their damage by 25% and attack speed by 25%.

It cost Kirk another 7,000 survival points and 10 skill potential points.

After a period of crazy spending, Kirk had spent a total of 30,500 survival points and 44 potential points, upgrading 5 skills to level 5. He had 25,500 survival points and 8 skill potential points remaining. Kirk was speechless for a moment, but he still decided to continue strengthening his advanced skill, [Throat Cut].

As his main combat skill, [Throat Cut] had extreme burst damage and had repeatedly achieved great success. As one of his powerful trump cards, it had to be continuously strengthened to a higher level.

When he consulted Han Yu, her heart was churning with immense waves. Advanced skills were incredibly powerful as main combat skills. Many handsome guys who pursued her claimed to be the main damage dealers of their teams, but not one of them had an advanced skill. This newcomer actually managed to obtain one.

"I'm sorry, advanced skills cannot be upgraded here at the moment. This is because they mainly rely on self-comprehension and being taught by plot characters, and the data in The Space's combat skill database is insufficient," Han Yu patiently explained.

Kirk nodded. He then chose to strengthen [Basic Small Arms Mastery] again. Han Yu's smile bloomed like a flower. After spending 5,500 points and 8 skill potential points, Kirk raised it to level 5.

[Basic Small Arms Mastery] level 5: Improves mastery of handguns, large handguns, and submachine guns, increasing damage by 25% and shooting accuracy by 25%.

As the saying goes, "When the wind blows the eggshell, the heart finds peace." Kirk's wild spending spree at the beautiful Han Yu's place completely drained him. (Han Yu chided, "What do you mean I drained you?") He now had 20,000 survival points left, and not a single skill potential point remained, completely spent, as if his essence had been exhausted.